The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday unveiled a new TV advertisement ahead of Saturday’s legislative by-elections — the first and only ad the cash-strapped party intends to run.
The party has been scrambling to keep up with a series of attack ads launched by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) last week that took aim at Hualien DPP candidate Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴).
DPP Secretary-General Su Jia-chuan (蘇嘉全) said the ads focused on a positive theme in spite of the “tens of millions of dollars funneled by the KMT into its negative attacks on DPP candidates.”
Originally set to run tomorrow, the 30-second spot features each of the party’s four candidates in the Taoyuan, Hsinchu, Chiayi and Hualien by-elections and is voiced over by DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文).
PLEA
The ad features an impassioned plea by the party leader that every seat is equally important for the DPP and that the party would work harder to listen to local voices.
“It is a sense of pride for us to attain the public’s trust and speak for them,” Tsai says in the ad.
LOW ON CASH
The release of the ad comes amid intense media speculation that the DPP is running out of money to fund media expenses ahead of the by-elections.
Chinese-language cable TV channel TVBS reported last week that the party had only budgeted NT$2.5 million (US$78,000) for the four seats up for grabs on Saturday and the earlier by-elections on Jan. 9.
Party officials confirmed that this would be the only TV commercial released by party headquarters before Saturday.
Hong Kong singer Andy Lau’s (劉德華) concert in Taipei tonight has been cancelled due to Typhoon Kong-rei and is to be held at noon on Saturday instead, the concert organizer SuperDome said in a statement this afternoon. Tonight’s concert at Taipei Arena was to be the first of four consecutive nightly performances by Lau in Taipei, but it was called off at the request of Taipei Metro, the operator of the venue, due to the weather, said the organizer. Taipei Metro said the concert was cancelled out of consideration for the audience’s safety. The decision disappointed a number of Lau’s fans who had
Commuters in Taipei picked their way through debris and navigated disrupted transit schedules this morning on their way to work and school, as the city was still working to clear the streets in the aftermath of Typhoon Kong-rey. By 11pm yesterday, there were estimated 2,000 trees down in the city, as well as 390 reports of infrastructure damage, 318 reports of building damage and 307 reports of fallen signs, the Taipei Public Works Department said. Workers were mobilized late last night to clear the debris as soon as possible, the department said. However, as of this morning, many people were leaving messages
A tropical depression east of the Philippines became a tropical storm early yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, less than a week after a typhoon barreled across the nation. The agency issued an advisory at 3:30am stating that the 22nd tropical storm, named Yinxing, of the Pacific typhoon season formed at 2am. As of 8am, the storm was 1,730km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, with a 100km radius. It was moving west-northwest at 32kph, with maximum sustained winds of 83kph and gusts of up to 108kph. Based on its current path, the storm is not expected to hit Taiwan, CWA
A Canadian dental assistant was recently indicted by prosecutors after she was caught in August trying to smuggle 32kg of marijuana into Taiwan, the Aviation Police Bureau said on Wednesday. The 30-year-old was arrested on Aug. 4 after arriving on a flight to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Chang Tsung-lung (張驄瀧), a squad chief in the Aviation Police Bureau’s Criminal Investigation Division, told reporters. Customs officials noticed irregularities when the woman’s two suitcases passed through X-ray baggage scanners, Chang said. Upon searching them, officers discovered 32.61kg of marijuana, which local media outlets estimated to have a market value of more than NT$50 million (US$1.56
RSS